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Blue Grille Cloth - AKA Zilch Cloth

For several years member Zilch has been offering the original weave Blue cloth to Forum members here on the site. From conversations with him, he is near out of stock and does not intend to reorder and continue this service. I recently bought most of his remains and he has very little left for sale. Anyone interested should not procrastinate and contact him soon.

On that subject, I have located JBL's original manufacturer and intend to place an order soon for this cloth. I will also order the original Black material at the same time. Lead times are yet to be determined but I expect that there will be a period of time where there will be no cloth available for member use. My intentions are to order this material to cover my own needs in the future and I am not motivated in any way to make this a resale business. I will allocate a certain amount of the total to supply the needs of Forum Members, for as long as it lasts.

As Zilch knows, the minimum quantity requirements for placing an order is a ton of money up front, but there is no other choice if the supply of cloth is to continue. I will post again when I know that the cloth is on it's way.

As Zilch knows, the minimum quantity requirements for placing an order is a ton of money up front, but there is no other choice if the supply of cloth is to continue. I will post again when I know that the cloth is on it's way.

Thanks for the update, and warning.

:dont-know Is it possible to know what those minimum-quantity requirements are? And, for those of us with unfettered acquisitive disorders or cats with their natural claws, how would we go about satisfying our concern for future availability? Is here a finite supply from the manufacturer or can we order that minimum quantity from them individually, if that information was shared?

Grille Cloth

Thanks Grumpy:

I suspect I will have no issues supplying this cloth for the foreseeable future. My interest in JBL has now spanned 36 years without fail. I built my first pair of JBL's in 1973 (Black Walnut Sovereign I's) and bought my first real pair in 1974 (Golden Oak S8R Sovereign I's). It would be interesting to know where the walnut Sov's are today. My originals are sitting in the bedroom to this day and I listen to them near every night till my lights go out. I expect to maintain my JBL fervor until I'm just too old to function so don't worry about me drifting away.

Minimum quantity requirements for a given color is 500 yards. This might not sound like a lot but it equates to 8500 square feet of material. There is no wiggle room on this requirement; believe me I tried. For a manufacturer this is not a big order and I consider my self lucky that they accepted the order.

Besides the traditional Pro Monitor colors of Blue and Black, I would dearly like to have other colors like Camel, Brown and JBL's beautiful Maroon used on the later Ti Series. But - what the hell would I ever do with 500 yards of any of those colors? If anyone is interested in investing with me in other colors let me know. As you all know, the weave quality is very good and we could possibly also use it for drapes, capes, komonos, etc.

Rick

Originally Posted by BMWCCA

Thanks for the update, and warning.

:dont-know Is it possible to know what those minimum-quantity requirements are? And, for those of us with unfettered acquisitive disorders or cats with their natural claws, how would we go about satisfying our concern for future availability? Is here a finite supply from the manufacturer or can we order that minimum quantity from them individually, if that information was shared?

Minimum quantity requirements for a given color is 500 yards. This might not sound like a lot but it equates to 8500 square feet of material. There is no wiggle room on this requirement; believe me I tried. For a manufacturer this is not a big order and I consider my self lucky that they accepted the order.

As long as you don't mind dealing with individual orders, I'm sure many here will help you whittle-down that bolt.

As long as you don't mind dealing with individual orders, I'm sure many here will help you whittle-down that bolt.

Two colors of 500 yards will likely be 10 or more bolts. It will take more than some whittling to put a dent in that amount.

No problem with individual orders - that's why I posted the information. As I said, I am ordering primarily for my own current and future needs but I should have more available that demand will call for. It took Zilch 4 years to dispose of 500 yards and I would guess that approx. 200 yards of that went to me.

Zilch was able to fill a big demand but that demand has narrowed considerably over the past 4 years. If he were to reorder it would likely take him 10 years to sell it off, as most forum members have already taken care of their needs. This will not be a problem for me and I will not be pushing multiple outlets to dispose of it. You won't have to rush an order for fear of it running out.

I've wanted to buy some for years, but there's such a cloud of secrecy surrounding this place that I never knew that outsiders could actually buy any. The amount I'd need would be insignificant compared to a bolt, so not much help, anyway.

It is great that you guys were able to source the stuff, I'm not sure I've ever seen a grill that's been re-covered with the cloth.

I've wanted to buy some for years, but there's such a cloud of secrecy surrounding this place that I never knew that outsiders could actually buy any.

Not sure what cloud of secrecy you are talking about or what an outsider is. It appears you are rated as a Senior Member. There are numberous threads related to the cloth Zilch has offered and an equal number of testimonials from members who have bought and installed it.

I have a few TI series speakers.the brown cloth is on all of them (or could be) If brown is purchased I would probably purchase some.

I just took a look at the color of the cloth on my L80Ts compared to my L112 and L96s and the older models are definitely brown, almost a reddish brown, but it's entirely questionable if the two pair of L80Ts are brown or closer to black. Regardless, they are not the same color as the '80s stuff. I'll take them outside if the sun ever comes out again and have a look in the sun. I only mention it because if Rick did happen to get excited about acquiring 500-yards of brown, it might not be the same brown that Mark is anticipating, or it might. The L80Ts are about as brown as the L7s are brown, and that's not-very.

Also, the fabric on the older grilles (L96, L112, L150A) has a coarser "weave" compared to the stretchier "cellular" look of the T's and the L7s. The 4345 black cloth comes in somewhere in between but Rick most likely knows how that compares to the "Zilch" cloth since they were his creation. My 4320 boxes with Heather's blue Zilch-cloth grilles are stored away and I can't compare them right now.

". . . as you have no doubt noticed, no one told the 4345 that it can't work correctly so it does anyway."—Greg Timbers

cloth

The blue cloth offered by Zilch and soon by me, is identical to that used by JBL in the 70's thru mid 80's. The manufacturer may have changed over the years but I believe that the weave/pattern has remained the same. For clarification, I have seen original so called Navy Blue cloth that were undoubtedly different shades but the pattern was the same. This is likely a die lot difference. Per the manufacturer the cloth is a double knit, diamond pattern. This same design has been used by other manufacturers besides JBL. The Navy Blue has only been made for JBL but black and other colors have been supplied for others.

Brown - The brown cloth used in the 70's for models like the Decades (L16, etc.) was the diamond pattern. The L112's I once owned were the same. I am not sure about later models but I have seen some that used a lighter weave that was stretchier, maybe a tight single knit. If I manage to assemble enough interest to order brown or some other color, it will be the double knit diamond pattern.

All black cloth that has come from me in the past is junk single knit transparent cloth that I found at a local fabric store. This was my only option for those that insisted on black cloth. Now I'll have the correct cloth for future projects.

Attached is a pic from the L250/B460 brochure that shows the pattern of the cloth that JBL used on most of their monitors in the 70's and 80's - the quality is outstanding.